Question: Do you really want to only be changing the lives of those who can pay for it?

Some of the largest barriers to life-long participation in a physical activity are:

Lack of access

Lack of affordability

Lack of knowledge and

Lack of an integrated and supportive community.

The importance of movement to our physical, mental, and social health is undeniable. Aside from the obvious, it also has shown to do everything from normalizing blood sugar, reducing inflammation, and stimulating cell growth to effectively treating depression, improving your ability to learn, protecting your memory, and growing your brain. (1)

Thus, finding a way to ensure everyone has access to nourishing, sustainable, and FUN physical activity (because its the 'play' factor that keeps people engaged over the years) is CRITICAL to human and societal health.

Yet traditional sports and gym-going exercise, the most common forms of physical activity, face many if not all of these... with additional barriers emerging depending on age, gender, race, etc.

We need a better option, which is where Parkour comes in... Because, incredibly, Parkour effectively provides a path over, under, and through all those major barriers.

In brief: Parkour provides:

Access - do it any time, anywhere

Affordability - no equipment needed, no coaches

Open-Education - free online learning

Community - diverse, inter-generational

Anyone who has tried parkour knows that you don't need any special equipment or designated spaces. You can go out your front door--heck, you can stay in your living room if you really wanted--and have right there the means and methods of participating. There are so many styles, interpretations, and training approaches that you can find your fit.

Even more so, we have an incredible and supportive community that shares knowledge, tips, and tricks. There is a wealth of free online information, and groups dedicated to growing it. We couch surf, we work-swap, we bootstrap.

We have this great option, it breaks all these barriers.

❌❌ But wait. ❌❌

My question at the start wasn't to talk about how parkour is a cure to traditional options, but actually a question to Parkour as a community growing today. A question directed at all of those who are leaders, business owners, coaches, and practitioners in parkour! A question to ensure we remain conscious.

Do you really want to only be changing the lives of those who can pay for it?

Yes, Parkour is the path over those barriers, and people will still take advantage of it. But today, more and more people are learning and engaging with parkour through classes and gyms and paid services. Less and less we don't need to take parkour to people, because people come to us. But the people coming to us are those who can afford to do so. And we can't forget that.

As a community, we will commodify and put up paywalls. We share our highest quality content less frequently and worry about protecting our 'IP' and ideas. As business and demand grows, there is just less time to give to developing and running free events, free classes, free services. Less time to do outreach, figure out cultural dissonance. I get it. There are bills to pay, a gym to run, people to support.

I'm not writing this to make anyone feel bad. I too believe in charging what you're worth, and making a living doing the thing you love. But we need to realize that access is declining to a degree, and the culture around practice is shifting... and we need to take active steps to ensure Parkour continues to reach the populations who need it most.

That also is not to minimize anyones experience with parkour.

I have no doubt of the positive and deep impact of parkour on the lives of those who can afford classes and their bus fare and the bottle of water. Who have the privileged and means to participate. But I worry about the populations we are not so readily serving anymore... those that CANT afford or access a gym or a community, who might not have internet at home, or a support network to help. Even those don't know parkour is an option.

I often think about how in some ways it is almost MORE important than ever to give parkour to those populations (and find paths that are viable and sustainable.). I see it sort of as a responsibility, honoring the roots of where parkour came from, and its potential for impact.

Vision for the community

For me: I have a vision of society where people are able to live powerfully in the life they are given. I also believe in a society of humans who look after one another. Where we help others build the foundations they need so that they can grow and do the same.

💪We are stronger when those around us are strong too.

🔥We are more powerful when those around us are powerful too.

Parkour has a way of giving people a sense of personal power, a foundation to build upon, skills critical to being physically, emotionally, and socially fit. (Youve all probably seen my article on that subject.)

And while people of any walk of life and step of society feeling more powerful in their lives is important, I believe it is our responsibility as leaders and caretakers of the discipline to take the extra step to ensure we are giving power to the powerless, strength to the weak, mentorship to the lost, knowledge to the hungry, community to the unsupported.

Parkour... play. Our community, this movement. It has the power to rock the world, change peoples lives.

So, this is just a call to be more conscious. Mindful of the ways we grow and the roles we take and the businesses we build.

Do we want to only be changing the lives of those who pay for it?

Not sure where to start? There are a few small things you can do today in your community to keep the spirit of access, affordability, and open education alive. Off the top of my head...

✴ Run a free monthly meetup (or even better, get volunteers to do it!)

✴ Share your ideas --the beautiful thing is that when you give someone an idea, you don't lose it. You now both share it and can find a way to make it more impactful!

Parkour Visions is also going to be taking a stand. As a non-profit, we are uniquely positioned to meaningfully catalyze donors, access grants, and work with local government around the country to see the development and growth of programs targeting underserved populations. We are seeking meaningful partnerships / projects with individuals and groups across the country to bring Parkour and play to people across all dimensions of diversity, but especially those who need parkour most.

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

Victor Emil Frankl

Hi everyone!I'm very excited to be sitting here putting the final touches on the very first Madefor Design digest! Over the last 6-7 years I have been researching play and design, focusing intensely on where and how they intersect. I am obsessed with figuring out how to use design to invite others to break the social barrier and engage in movement and playful activity. In this time I have also compiled a vast library of resources, from books to construction materials to projects and more. I hope you find something within to inspire your work!

This issue I kept is short & sweet with three little projects . In the future I'll drop a couple more per issue, and there will always be posts going up on the blog. Feel free to email me things you find as well Caitlin@StudioMadefor.com

Enjoy!Caitlin

PS - Don't forget to subscribe!

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The Athletics Exploratorium by Keingart Architects is the epitome of creative invitations to play. What makes this project really work is that it takes a traditional track & field, which comes complete with its own expectations of movement and behavior, and it juxtaposes it with the unexpected. People are drawn off the track and into these alternative uses, and before they know it, they are using their body in ways they haven't before.

TAKE AWAY IDEA

How can you twist up something that already involves movement in order to broaden someones perspective? How can you change a soccer field? Or a baseball field? Or even tennis courts? What are things we can do to blacktops & other surfaces?

I won't lie, I am pretty much OBSESSED with crate installations. I have a whole library folder chock full of these types of projects, and this won't be the last one I share. Crate constructions just seem like that sweet intersection between do-it-yourself, creative reuse, budget-friendliness, and cool. Plus, you'd be surprised how sturdy these structures can be once assembled.

This installation stacks vegetable crates and tops them with OSB to create a walking surface. It is used more as a display space than a play space, but I can only imagine re configuring the whole structure to be lower to the ground and good for jumping around on.

TAKE AWAY IDEA

Use crates! There definitely needs to be more experimentation in the world of pop-up playground/temporary structures with crates. They are cheap, easy to move around, and, again, surprisingly sturdy when clustered correctly.

I love this small intervention by Casagrande Laboratory and Marco Casagrande. It is simple but creates a cozy, atmospheric space for gathering and ritual.

TAKE AWAY IDEA

I'm particularly enamored with the way he used rope and am obsessed thinking about what would have to be done to make the rope secure enough to be 'climbable'. I am sure there is enough friction and tension to allow for it, but could you imagine low walls of rope going through a forest?

Siloo is an adaptive reuse project that envision a new life for a set of abandoned silos. It proposes both exterior renovations to extrude the surfaces and develop the surrounding public space, as well as turning the interior into a climbing space as well. Read more about the project here.

Designed by BUS Architects, the Undefined playground is a modular, portable, and collapsible playground system that can be dropped into an open/public space, transforming it into a play space.

I really love the considerations towards multi-use, and the considerations towards borrowing equipment. I'm curious to know how hard/heavy it is to maneuver, as well as if there is any more seating that gets pulled out. That would probably be my biggest critique (which is small, at that!). Great ideas here.

The opening of the Hills on Governors Island was one of the events of the 2016 summer that I looked forward to the most. I was quivering with excitement to go and play on the real-life version of those sexy images released showing mountains of stone and wood!

In the weeks following the opening, you could go and find people laying around on the large stones on the hill, as well as running up and down. That the space inspired movement (hiking, exploring) is without a doubt.

However, the island is failing to meet the potential of the space by policing the behaviors of adults and teenagers. There were plenty of children running and jumping between the large stones, with no issue. As soon as an adult went to do the same, however, a guard quickly came over and asked us to cease and desist. They cited concerns for safety, as well as the sturdiness of the structure itself.

If an adult jumping between two of these stones might cause a structural security issue, then perhaps this shouldnt be open to the public. Lets be real.

This is an excellent example of where you have a design being failed by policy. In my manifesto, I lay out three key elements to playspaces being able to realize their fullest potential---one of which is support of the space through the development of tolerant and flexible public policy.

This four-story temple to play in the Austrian mountains, designed by Snohetta, is a collection of interesting spaces for movement and social interaction! Being a large and self-contained facility, it appears that many of the spaces are friendly both to adults and to kids. There are spaces to indulge as well as to spectate--and it seems to operate more like a public space than an exclusive playground.

When you look then, at these two spaces, playgrounds and fitness parks, you will see two drastically different ideas on what 'play' is.

We all recognize the importance of play for children. New York City alone is home to hundreds of children’s playgrounds–adventure and imagination playgrounds, modern designs, interactive sculptures, nature inspired, wood constructions, loose parts, prefab structures, and more. The city seems to be devoted to designing, building, and renovating new & interesting places for children to play.

But what about all those teenagers and adults?

For some reason children are the only ones allowed to indulge in play, according to society. Teenagers and Adults who attempt to engage in some form of childhood play are dismissed as unproductive, self-indulgent, and immature; and are told to ‘grow up’ and be more responsible. There must be structure and goals.

And, sadly, the city and society seems to agree by its construction. Sure, there are hundreds of playgrounds, but how many are adults allowed to use? And those that ARE designed for adults, what do they say about our expectations when it comes to adult play?

'Adult' Playgrounds

'Childrens' Playgrounds

Let’s take a look at an example that will reflect the city at large–Central Park. In Central Park there are 21 designated playgrounds (https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/facilities/playgrounds). Of those 21, however, a grand total of 0 are allowed to be used by teenagers or adults. Instead, for adults, the park provides basketball and tennis courts, recreation centers, and soccer fields--all highly structured activities either requiring equipment or membership. The closest thing to a playground that adults receive is a fitness park--just 1--which is a series of pull up bars and sit up stations.

And, when you look then, at these two different spaces for play, you will see two drastically different ideas on what 'play' is.

For children, play is imaginative, creative, and open ended. There are no guidelines on how to use the equipment (though most contemporary out-of-the-box systems certainly have movement expectations built in--for another time). There are bright colors, there are large structures, there are moving parts, sand, blocks, water, etc.

For adults, it is goal-oriented, structured, and well-established. Each piece is isolated, with instructions and directions. There is no room really for free thought beyond how many reps am I doing. Everything is contained, stable. Pull up station, sit up station. Balance here, specifically, but not really anywhere else.

It is established that adults need play as much as children in order to nourish and support their mental, physical, cognitive, and social health---so why are our spaces so drastically different?

This November, I will be daily releasing a series of short reflections as I organize my thoughts, research, and ideas about the American Playground and its place in the future of urban and public spaces.

Specifically I will be trying to (1) document the history of the playground in the modern era, (2) examine physical spaces from which games, play, and ludic behavior have naturally emerged over time, (3) inventory exemplary cases, on both extremes of success and failure, (4) explore potential principles for designing play into public spaces, and (5) argue for the elimination of the playground as an autonomous, isolated, and un-integrated space in our cities.

This will culminate in a guidepost, a set of principles and recommendations--a manifesto for the next great american playground, and the future of play in our urban fabric.

One of many of the post-war experimental playground designers, Michael Grossert is a swiss sculptor who designed a small number of play sculptures in the late 1960s, early 1970s.

The phrase he used to describe his work was 'walk-in sculpture'--where the public can interact in a more complete way with the work,, walking through, under, around, and on his work. Some of his larger and later ideas were whole landscapes of shapes and colors that would excite the passerby.

Eyck designed and oversaw the construction of numerous playgrounds in the Netherlands. His attention to the human scale & personal experience is delightful, as well as his attempt to blend play into the every day city.

Quick look: The fitness park is a poor substitution for a playground, and an insult to our teenage and adult populations. Reflections on the Fitness Park in NYC.

In 2012 NYC opened its first official ‘adult playground’ and has plans to build two dozen more by the end of 2014 (3). However, calling them playgrounds is a gross exaggeration. That ‘adult playground’ is nothing more than an outdoor gym, with isolated stations and plastic signs telling you what you should be doing and where and how. Pull-ups here, situps there, balance on this one beam and this one beam alone. No problem solving required, no creativity needed, no room for exploration or collaboration… no fun, no freedom. The only two benefits I see is that it is free to use and smells significantly better than a box gym.

Teenagers are faring a little better, but just barely. There is the development of a playground at Hudson Yards, but its completion is set way out in 2015, and what it ends up offering is yet to be seen. For those who enjoy skateboarding, there are numerous skateparks open to the public, though it should be noted that their use is contingent upon the signature of a waiver and specific equipment requirements. But if skating isn’t you’re thing, then you’re as well off as the rest of the adult population.

Thus there is no denying that in the City and Society today, there is a unacceptable and near complete lack of designed and designated opportunity for teenagers and adults to engage in free, unstructured, creative play.

When you go to a park, your free options are to walk, on this path or that one, or to sit on a bench, in the shade or the sun, or to people watch. You can also roll around in the grass (some of the time). Pull out your wallet, and there are tons of bike paths if you’re able to afford a bike, or you could throw a ball in the field, assuming you have the equipment, so long as you don’t disturb your neighbors. If you wanted to organize a game of soccer or tennis, you have to compete with the hundreds of others looking to use that space, or possibly even purchase a permit.

And, well, with those as your best options, it should be no surprise to hear that in NYC more than 1/2 the adult population is either overweight or obese(4)(5). One could easily link obesity to the fact that the opportunities that are available to get moving are too expensive, difficult, competitive, or, to put it plainly, not a whole lot of fun.

Fitness & play needs to be more than gym workouts, expensive specialty classes, long walks in the park, and competitive team sports. And, even if there WERE opportunities for play that met this criteria, there would additionally need to be guidance and support, as we as a society and population have been conditioned into systems thinking and to be fearful of 'play'.

To put the long story short–we don’t need more gyms and classes in our city; we need more playful, adult infrastructure. We need infrastructure that is complex, inter-generational, and flexible, that both guides and allows for adults & teenagers to develop and explore their own open-ended challenges. We need a place that is safe, welcoming, accessible, and fun. …And We need to stop looking at play as a distraction or diversion from reality, but rather as an integral element of our continual, healthful development.

Park Hill estate, Sheffield, 1963. Part of the Park Hill estate, designed by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith, who were tutored by the Smithsons – the founders of new brutalism. The estate was famous for its experimental ideas, like walkways in the sky, and that approach was reflected in the playground. Photograph: Arch Press Archive/RIBA.